Going to work is more stressful than ever

November 7th, 2014

A recent poll reveals that Britons find their jobs more demanding and stressful than ever.

According to YouGuv polling, two thirds of employed people in Britain say that the amount of work they are expected to undertake day-to-day has grown over the past few years, with over a third expected to do unpaid overtime.

These findings come at the same time as increasing workplace illness and injury rates. In fact, figures released last month by the Health and Safety Executive show that almost half a million people now suffer from workplace-related stress, anxiety or even depression within the last financial year. Worryingly, around half of these were new cases.

According to the report, only a third of us look forward to going to work while the rest either dread it or feel ambivalent.

The TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“What job we do is a big part of our identity. Yet this poll reveals that many of us work in unfair workplaces that don’t get the best out of their staff. Employers and politicians talk up the flexible labour market, but for too many it means being treated as only slightly more important than what is in the stationery cupboard.”

The study also uncovered that one in five people say either themselves or someone else at their workplace has experienced insecure or irregular work, leading them to not know how much pay they would get from week to week.

Another worrying statistic is that just under a quarter (over six million workers) are worried that they may lose their jobs within the next year and a third are concerned that their job may offer poor conditions (i.e. less pay) in that time.

Sadly, it appears that progressing in a job is no longer a hope for many. Over 8.5 million workers say that they do not have regular opportunities to improve their skills at work.

A Department for Business, Innovation & Skills spokeswoman commented to say that there are actually more people in employment than ever before and that last month they implemented the first above-inflation rise in the National Minimum Wage since 2007.